Glen Canyon – San Francisco – Adopt-A-Crag – 6/6/2015

The Glen Canyon Adopt-A-Crag was a great event and we want to give a very special “thank you” to the 36 local climbers that came out to make this event a success.

Recent History:

As many of your know, there were some concerns from the SF Parks and Recreation department about climbing in Glen Canyon Park and at Beaver Street Wall. A number of us from the local climbing community (Teresa Black, James Craig, and Matt Ulery) met with the SF Parks and Recreation department employees to understand their concerns and identify how to move forward to ensure continued access to these great local gems.

One of the opportunities that was identified was the hosting of an Adopt-A-Crag at Glen Canyon. This event was our opportunity to show the local land managers that the climbing community in the Bay Area are passionate and dedicated stewards of their outdoor spaces. And thanks to all of the volunteers that showed up and worked super hard, we were successful in that area.

The Bay Area Climbers Coalition will continue to work with the SF Parks and Recreation department to establish a more formal “climbing management plan” that will include ongoing stewardship events and educational components to keep you all in the loop about what is going on in the parks and how we can be the best possible partners.

Event Report:

With all of our Adopt-A-Crags we love to celebrate the work that was completed at a local crag, check out the summary and photos below!

Work completed included:

Clearing of brush from trails around park – these trimmings were used to close off a major social trail to the climbing area that was causing erosion issues. Please be sure to stay on the established trails in Glen Canyon (and other spots too).

Filling and crowing of dirk pack in crib/box steps that lead up to the main climbing areas – when the steps were originally built the treads were not packed correctly, with the guidance of the SF Parks department we fixed this issue on over 30 stairs leading up to the climbing area.

Trail restoration and erosion control – two teams took on some serious trail restoration and erosion control on the trails around the climbing areas. Work included widening of the trails, bench-cutting, and correction of trail cross-slope. All of this work will make the trails easier to use and allow for better shedding of water off the trails and reducing erosion.

Removal of fencing and fence posts around climbing area – the SF Parks department had put up this fencing on the hillside around the climbing area to provide the hillside the chance to regrow a number of native plants – with the regrowth completed, the fence could be removed.

One of the things that we LOVE about these events is that we provide an opportunity for climbers to learn about all the technical details that go into the restoration and maintenance of the trails and systems that make up the areas we recreate. So even if you have never done this type of work before we will work with you to understand the importance of the work you are doing and develop some hard skills that you can bring to the next event with us.

Huge “Thank You” to our partners and Sponsors:

These events would truly not be possible without the support of these amazing local businesses. The Bay Area Climbers Coalition is a volunteer-run 501c3 non-profit and we rely heavily on the generosity of local business to keep the costs of these events to a minimum. Please be sure to check these business out and support them as a way of saying “thank you” for their support of us and our local crags.

Long Bridge Pizza – SF/Dogpatch area

Planet Granite

Dogpatch Boulders

Mission Cliffs

Access Fund

Coco Libre Coconut Water

CLIF Bar

Black Diamond

Event Photos:

Check out the spread of goodies that we had for the volunteers – big thanks to CLIF Bar and Coco Libre!

Final pre-event meeting with the SF Parks staff.

Safety Talk with all of our volunteers.

TOOLS!

We also do smaller Safety Talks with each team about tool usage and project overview.

The crib/box step team working super hard!

Breaking up the old dirt pack before adding new material to the box/crib steps.

Tamping and crowning the new dirt in the box/crib steps.

Upper trail to the climbing areas – a “before” photo.

Upper trail to the climbing area – an “after” photo.

Removing the fencing and fence posts.

Everyone enjoying a well deserved lunch!

Huge “Thank You” to Long Bridge Pizza for donating the pizzas for the event!